They say creativity is "hiding the source." If that's true, than what do you call blatantly copying an original design and making no attempts to hide the source? I call it ballsy corporate theft.

We designed and manufactured the Clive Stand in cooperation with Delaney Kelly of Carthagh Design. A quick walk through the convention halls at SCAA in Houston gives you an idea of how difficult it is to create a proprietary product without someone else copying it in a matter of months.

Melitta purchased a Clive Stand from us on February 23rd, then copied the design for its own purposes. Below, there is a picture from the SCAA convention Melitta booth. We know they bought a unit from us back in February (Jeff Bridges at Melitta bought one). It appears that they bought it just to create a knockoff. When they were asked at the show how much the stand is or will be, they said "$15-20 wholesale." I guess questionable labor in China really makes things cost effective. I emailed Melitta and received in response a name and address to send a demand letter, but no comment.

The other photo attached to this email shows the Hario/Sungarden booth, and their copies of the Clive Stand. We were told "August availability." when asked about the stand. Hario is well respected in our specialty industry, so it is painful to see this company blatently knocking off our product design.

We're a small company in Portland, Oregon that spent months working up this design with Delaney, and now big companies are appropriating our design for their own purposes.

Hario Booth - Clive Stand KnockoffHario had their knockoff of the Clive Stand prominently featured. It is slightly different from the Clive Stand (the back is more straight at the top) but the shape is too close for comfort.

Melitta Booth Clive KnockoffThe Melitta booth also prominently featured a knockoff, which is almost identical to our Clive Stand.

Editor's Note: prior to publication, CoffeeGeek contacted both Melitta and Hario to seek clarification or a response regarding these products and the design that is clearly created by Clive Coffee and Carthagh Design. Neither company has responded to our information request.

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